A (UK) Government decision to restrict the free sale of Vitamin B6 has been made based on poor science and is not in the best interests of the public.
The Government's Committee on Toxicity (COT) has recommended the restriction of B6 to 10mg based on a research paper published in 1987, which has been widely discredited.
The study (Dalton K & Dalton MJT, Acta Neurologica Scandinavia 76,8-11) was conducted as a telephone survey and is widely regarded as seriously flawed,
"It is a poor study which doesn't show anything at all," according to leading researcher Dr Richard Passwater, PhD.
Nutritional experts around the world confirm that there is little or no adverse reaction to B6 under 500mg. Any adverse effects, such as pins and needles, clumsiness and numbness disappear upon ceasing supplementation.
If the Government passes this as law, B6 users will have to get their supplements above 50mg on prescription, wasting their time, and the time of GPs. Between 11 and 49mg these supplements will be available in the pharmacy only - devastating the health food store. Consider that many multivitamins contain more than 10mg of B6
But it is the consumer that suffers the most and the vision of hundreds of thousands of pre-menstrual women marching on Parliament cannot be a pretty one for Tony Blair and his newly elected female MPs.
We are confident this unfortunate Government decision can be reversed - with your help . . .
Information from SOLGAR
The statutory instrument has not yet been laid before Parliament. Members of the Committee on Toxicity have expressed concern at the quality of scientific evidence provided so far, and wish to consider the matter further. Meanwhile vitamin B6 and supplements containing more than 10mg per dose continue to be available in good health food shops, and are legal and safe.
The UK Government have failed to update their files at http://www.open.gov.uk. to reflect this U-turn, so information was gleaned from Natural Products News (trade mag) and insiders.
UPDATE 1st March 1998
GOOD NEWS! We heard yesterday (25th February) that the chairman of the Agriculture Select Committe, Mr Peter Luff, will announce in a matter of days that his committee will conduct an enquiry into the vitamin B6 issue. . . .
. . .But we are not out of the wood yet by any means. Nobody needs to tell
you how intransigent the Minister, Mr. Rooker, is being. However, the letters
you [health food retailers] have persuaded your own customers to write have
played a major part in bringing this enquiry about. Sue Croft - Director
of Consumers for Health Choice
email
106021,2507@compuserve.com
UPDATE 2nd April 1998
News finally breaks on BBC and ITV services. There are not any apparent developments to hang this story on, so we wonder if some news management is going on. Today's claims that BSE/CJD is probably caused by anti warble fly organo phosphates (painted down the cows' backbones) may be taking the heat off the Government on the neurological front, and they may be preparing to back down on B6. We believe they have been badly frightened by various developments, and a success on the BSE crisis could enable them to relax a bit.
Anyway, check out the full story from BBC News
UPDATE 24th June 1998
Select Committee reports, and Parliament debates issue. Jeff Rooker appears to have little support.
UPDATE 21st July 1998
July 21st Solgar write to the Independant:
It is difficult to understand why government officials think they are above the will of those they govern or the laws of science. The ultimate in contempt is when ill-advised politicians combine these two great errors. Mr. Jack Cunningham and Mr. Tony Blair are apparently attempting to do as revealed in Political Correspondent Colin Brown's article, "Green top milk may be banned" in your Monday, 20 July issue. Usually when politicians go against the public will and public interest it is because they owe a favour or have personal economic stakes at risk. The issue is that in spite of the conclusions based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence verifying the safety of vitamin B6 at individual doses exceeding 200 mg. per day, Cunningham and Blair appear to be willing to take away the freedom of choice for women to take this vitamin to reduce their suffering -- unless they are willing to pay the additional costs associated with visits to physicians and high-priced prescription pharmaceuticals. For no good reason, they wish to limit free selection of vitamin B6 to pills with dosages of 10 mg or less. The facts are contained in the recent Select Committee report. Vitamin B6 has been proven to be safe and effective. The bigger issue is whether or not the government opposes freedom of choice in safe health care? Wasn't it Kipling who asked, "What stands if freedom fall(s)?" Freedom falls one freedom at a time.
Richard A. Passwater, Ph.D
Director of Research
Solgar Nutritional Research Center
UPDATE 30th July 1998
MAFF announces:
"The decision on vitamin B6 has been deferred pending a review by the Expert
Committee on vitamins and minerals".
Professor Woods resigns from the Expert Committee on Vitamins &
Minerals.
. . .and the BBC reports:
The government has put plans to impose strict limits on the sale of Vitamin B6 supplements on ice. However the official line is still that high doses are bad for health. Nick Brown, the new minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announced on Thursday that proposed regulatory action was to be deferred pending consideration of the whole issue of vitamin supplements by the new Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals. The group is not expected to report for at least 18 months. Ministers had planned to limit the daily dosage of vitamin B6 in food supplements freely available over the counter to 10 milligrammes. But the agriculture select committee advised last month that plans for strict limits should be dropped, and called for a voluntary limit of 100mg per daily dose to be introduced instead.
But critics claimed the conclusion was based on a flawed scientific study. A group of 218 scientists and doctors sent a letter to all MPs, claiming that B6 was safe at daily doses of up to 200mg, and that no significant health problems had emerged despite several decades of widespread use. More than 100,000 letters have also been sent to MPs by consumers complaining about the government decision, and a lobby group called Consumers for Health Choice has spearheaded a campaign of opposition.
Mr Brown said: "We need to establish a consistent set of principles for ensuring
the safety of all food supplements containing vitamins and minerals. "We
continue to rely on the assessment of the science provided by the Committee
on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment and
I pay tribute to that committee and its chairman.
"We shall therefore be advising the public to limit intakes of vitamin B6
from food supplements to no more than 10mg a day, unless otherwise acting
on professional advice." The main task of the expert group will be to establish
a framework of scientific principles to assess the safety of vitamins and
minerals, but it will also advise on the toxicity of individual vitamins
and minerals.
Campaigners said they were disappointed that their fight had not yet come to an end but claimed the decision as a victory. Sue Croft, director of umbrella campaign group Consumers for Health Choice, said: "We have always said that if the Government examines all the scientific evidence it will come to the right decision and the referral to this committee should ensure that happens." Peter Luff, the Tory chairman of the Agriculture Select Commitee, said: "This is a very sharp change of direction. "The bottom line for consumers is they will have another two years of their vitamin B6 at least, and I suspect a great deal more. That is very welcome
Reprinted from BBC News